


Best Friends

by autumnmycat



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Crossover, Drabbles, Earth Kingdom, F/F, F/M, Fusion, Homeworld (Steven Universe), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Request Meme
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-08-15 22:23:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8075131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnmycat/pseuds/autumnmycat
Summary: A series of drabbles and one-shots.Chapter 4: Pearl is there for everyone, but sometimes she wonders if anyone is there for her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is lifeiskorrasami, so if anyone wants to send a prompt, just send it to my ask!

“So this is your… _human?_ ” 

Peridot asked this with a look of discomfort. She was not disgusted or offended, but hesitant. The only other human she had interacted with was Greg, and that had not gone over so well.

“She’s not _my_ human! She’s just _a_ human.”

Peridot scrunched her face when “a human” put out her hand. 

“Hi, Peridot! I’m Connie!”

“Connie…”

Peridot was at a loss as to what the Connie was doing with her hand. After a second, she let her hand go to her side. Peridot had obviously messed up some kind of _human ritual_.

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you. Steven talks a lot about you!”

She would never say it out loud, but she hoped Steven was saying good things.

“Yes, as he should.” 

Connie and Steven laughed, which made Peridot beam.

“Oh, and that’s Lapis!” 

Steven was pointing in the direction of the barn where Lapis stood, leaning against the entrance. She was just observing as she often did.

“Hi, Lapis!” Connie called, waving.

Lapis held up a hand.

“So! Are we ready for this picnic?” Steven asked, turning to Connie. 

“You know it!”

“What is a…pic-nic?” 

Steven took out a blanket from a basket.

“Well, it’s a thing where you bring a bunch of food and a plaid blanket and you sit on it and you eat food.”

“That sounds pointless.”

“Well, I guess it is, but it’s fun! And, you get to eat outside.” 

The whole thing seemed ridiculous to Peridot, but most human customs were unnecessary and time-consuming, but then again, so was making morps, so she couldn’t really say anything.

Steven and Connie sat on the blanket and began to take out organic sustenance.

“I’m going to watch Camp Pining Hearts,” Peridot declared because she couldn’t even shapeshift a gastrointestinal tract, anyway (something Amethyst had failed to take into consideration when she forced her to try food the first time). 

“Aw, Peridot. Can’t you hang out with us? It’s been a while since I’ve been to the barn, and I was really excited.”

He looked up at her with these eyes that seemed to glow in the afternoon sunshine. 

Drat.

Just when Peridot was about to protest more adamantly, Lapis decided to drift on over.

“I’ll eat with you, Steven.”

As she watched Lapis sit down on the blanket, Peridot was trying to figure out whether she was doing this because she was sympathetic or if she liked picnics. She sighed. 

“I will also participate.” 

“Yay! Thanks, Peridot!”

 

* * *

 

It turns out that picnics are logistically pointless.

Peridot watched with a boredom that completely consumed her. She couldn’t eat so the practical nature of the ritual was all but pointless. Lapis didn’t eat either, but she seemed interested in the chattering of the human and the hybrid. Peridot couldn’t bring herself to care. 

Although, Steven did look quite happy. The Connie did as well, especially when they started to run around and try to “tag” each other. And then they did something that looked like making morps with their bodies. Lapis told her that they were dancing. 

It was wholly uninteresting until the two of them disappeared into a flash of light.

And then there was just one of them.

“Oh my Stars!” Peridot didn’t know when she started standing, but she was on her feet, fists clenched excitedly. “You’re Percy and Pierre, too?!”

“Huh?” The fusion frowned in confusion.

Lapis burst out laughing. Peridot wasn’t sure why. 

“It’s impossible to fuse with a human!” Peridot shouted.

“Well, Steven is half human, so…” the fusion said with an uneasy smile. They held up their hand. “I’m not Percy or Pierre. I’m Stevonnie.” 

“Oh my stars,” Peridot repeated. She went up to them and gave their arm a firm poke. They were warm like humans, and they seemed nothing like Garnet at all. The whole concept was baffling. On Homeworld, not only was it not fathomable that a half human/half gem hybrid could exist, but fusion with a human was not even illegal because no one thought it was possible. 

Amazing. 

Peridot and Lapis watched Stevonnie run around, entertaining themselves.

“You know,” Lapis began, staring at the fusion blankly, “I think it’s funny that you talk about fusion using Percy and Pierre.”

“Garnet was trying to explain it to me, and that was the analogy that made the most sense.”

“Huh.”

There was a long period of silence, Stevonnie’s giggles mixing with birds chirping and the wind rustling the tree’s leaves.

“Hey, Peridot.” 

“Yes, Lapis?”

“Did you know, we could be like Percy and Pierre, too?”

“What?!”

Peridot spent the rest of the day running around with a bright green flush on her cheeks.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all, she is a defective Pearl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who’s not done with sad Pearl?

Her mind flutters. She hears a sound.

It’s not anything that people would normally distinguish as a sound. It is only the idea of nature, the feeling of organic life on her skin. As much as she loves it, she hates it.

(only because she can’t have it—)

It's not even real, just a misplaced memory. It's all her mind can do to distract her from reality. The moment she realizes this, the illusion crumbles around her, and she experiences a terror that she has not felt in millennia.

But, it only lasts a moment. 

Jasper's hands are big, and they like to parade her around. Pearl is a prize after all. That’s all she is. 

A prize.

Pearl tries her best to make her eyes dull, to not let on that she’s thinking. During some cycles, it’s almost relieving. Don’t have to think. Don’t have to know. It’s not her fault.

( _ ~~It’s all my fault.~~_ )

They notice immediately when her eyes flicker with sadness.

Big hands touch the top of her head, graze the underside of her chin.

“She’s defective.”

Like Pearl hasn’t heard that before. Homeworld jargon. It means she has thoughts. Is that really so defective?

“How could you say that?” Jasper growls, gripping the smaller gem against her body. Her grip is so tight that she wonders if she will lose her physical form.

“Look at her. She is clearly not a fully functional Pearl.”

Pearl doesn’t move. She makes her body limp against the muscular orange leg she’s pinned to. No, she’s not defective. Not her. She is _compliant._ She will _do anything._  

She’s so small, she is taken up in her hand. She is displayed in front of all the other gems questioning her. She doesn’t move.

“Look at her! She’s one of the finest pearls. And her design,” a finger traces around her gem, and she has to bite back the sound she wants to make, “is ancient! Look at the construction of her gem. They don’t make them like this anymore.”

Everyone gathers. Everyone looks.

She wills her eyes to remain unfocused, to only recognize light and darkness.

“Oh My Stars. I never noticed. Her gem is oblong. She used to belong to a diamond.”

“Yes.” The big hand places her down, but she is dizzy and almost can’t keep her legs steady. She makes sure Pearl can stand before continuing on. “She defected during the Rebellion, but now she’s mine.” 

They all look at this mid-ranking official parading around with an ancient, highly prized pearl, and they sneer at her. 

Pearl wishes she could run, wishes she could rebel again, but unless she wants her gem to be crushed into dust, she is better off keeping quiet.

“What gives you the right to have a pearl? You’re only a jasper.”

She wishes she were gone so she didn’t have to have this conversation. It isn’t so much a conversation as it is a means of demeaning her. Not even that. They have no concept that Pearl is anything more than an object.

She lets her eyes focus on the ground, and she tries very hard not to think.

(She’s not defective. Not by a long shot.)

But they can’t know.

“I found her,” the larger gem growls. “She’s mine.”

That giant hand once again crushes her. She tries not to make a sound, but she does. Because it hurts. She’s forgotten how to not talk about her own feelings and her own body. She was a person and now she is not, and she has forgotten.

Her face crumbles, and they all notice.

“Look, she’s experiencing _pain_. They’re not supposed to do that.”

Her eyes flick up, and she can’t remove the feelings in time.

They’re staring down at her, and she feels like she is already shattered in a million pieces.

“Leave her alone!” 

Jasper picks her up, swallowing her in her big arms, and begins to walk away. All she can hear are disgruntled voices – shouting and sneering.

(She’s still wrong. Even after all those thousands of years. She can never be right for anyone.)

“Don’t listen to them, Pearl. They’re just jealous.”

“Jealous of what?”

“Of you,” she says in earnest.

“Of me?” the words come out almost like a whimper. She doesn’t understand. “But, I’m just a pearl.”

Jasper almost lets her down, almost lets her walk by herself, but she doesn’t. 

(She is a Pearl/Prize/Object/Nothing/Nothing/Nothing) 

( ~~All those years of unlearning, of finding who she was, of trying not to be a servant, of trying to be a person~~ )

Gone to waste.

“You’re the best pearl left. You’re so different. There’s no one on Homeworld like you.”

Pearl looks away, trying to forget she exists.

“You’re perfect.” 

And, as Jasper leans down and leaves a chaste kiss on the top of her head, Pearl wonders what it would take to become defective in her eyes.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Korra and Jasper meet each other after a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can request drabbles on my tumblr, which is lifeiskorrasami.tumblr.com

Korra took the bandages off her fingers. Her entire body ached with the now familiar pain of defeat. It never truly went away. Not after—

Better not think about that. Wouldn’t want to have a panic attack in the middle of the locker room.

(She was sick of feeling weak.)

Wandering over to the sink, she avoided the mirror, dropping the wrappings in the trash. She turned on the faucet and splashed water on her face. It stung her bruised eyelid and her split lip, but the chill made her feel more awake, and  ~~less like a failure.~~

In a momentary lapse of sanity, she looked up to the mirror, and shining white eyes were staring back at her. 

A sharp sound escaped her lips before she could stop it. Her skin lit up in fear and her legs felt weak. She was stumbling backward before she knew it.

Korra hit something. 

“Hey, kid. You okay?”

Or someone.

When she managed to gather her wits about her and turn around, she was met with bright orange eyes.

(The same ones that she just lost to.)

Korra grunted an unconvincing, “Yes,” while wiping away the bit of blood the trickled from her split lip. So much for not looking weak.

“Doesn’t look like it. Did I hit ya too hard in the ring?”

Her tone was light, and she was probably joking, but Korra’s pride had been beaten to the ground too many time to count, so she was not really in a joking mood.

She turned, wandering over to her stuff, only supplying a noncommittal shrug in response.

“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it. You just looked kind of out of it.”

Something about the way she spoke—harsh but empathetic—made Korra shoot her another look over her shoulder. She didn’t seem to be mocking her. Maybe she was being a little too sensitive. 

“Trust me. I’m fine. I’ve had the shit beat out of me worse than that.”

Not a lie. There was a reason she was having trouble winning matches again even the least skilled fighters. 

“Good to hear.” Her lips curled into a smirk. “I tried not to rough you up too bad.“

Korra let herself chuckle, grabbing the strap of her bag and throwing it over her shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, turning to leave. She probably would have, too, if the woman hadn’t spoken up. 

“What’s your name? I don’t think I’ve seen you around these parts before.”

Oh, shit. Her name? She couldn’t say her real name. She didn’t want to be identified as the Avatar ~~who fucked everything up~~ ). What was a good alias? Oh, geez, she was screwed—

“Or, is it one of those things where your well-to-do family would kill you if they knew you fought down here?” 

“Yeah,” she sighed. Crisis adverted. She must have seen the panic that seized her body. “I’d rather not say.”

“That’s fine. I’m Jasper.” She held out her hand, and Korra took it. 

“Nice to meet you.”

Stepping back, she put her long white hair up in a ponytail. “I’d love a rematch sometime. You seem like you know your stuff, and I’m always looking for a good match.” 

Korra half-smiled, turning to leave. This conversation was getting too friendly for comfort. She couldn’t risk being friends with anyone. They might figure out who she was. “Yeah. That’d be cool.” 

An uneasy silence hung in the air as Korra left the locker rooms to collect her winnings. She secretly hoped she’d never see Jasper again. She hated the idea that she would have to face someone she lost against. 

~~She hated the idea that she still lost to everyone.~~

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl is there for everyone, but sometimes she wonders if anyone is there for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I write a lot of sad oneshots on my tumblr when i'm drunk? also fuck you, i love garnet/pearl

“I feel like I can’t say anything,” Pearl murmurs, her hands folded neatly in her lap.

“Why is that?”

Garnet is fully engrossed by something else that is not Pearl. 

Pearl knows she doesn’t need the attention/shouldn’t want the attention, and yet—

“Everyone has problems that are larger than mine, and I—”

Garnet falls silent, her three eyes peering at Pearl through her visor.

The silence is more indicative of how she feels than her actual words are.

She speaks up, anyways.

“Of course, I’m here to listen,” Pearl says. She looks almost wistfully at Garnet, her eyes glazed over with memories and tears. “I try very hard to be understanding. But, when I want to talk, I feel like there’s nobody around to hear me.”

“That’s not true,” Garnet says, inching closer. 

Arms wrap around her shoulders, but it is much too late. Pearl doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t have to.

“Pearl—”

“It’s okay! It really is.” Her voice becomes softer as she speaks.

Garnet is not sure if she believes her.

A few moments pass. Garnet releases her and looks down at the ground.

“Am I being self-centered?” Pearl asks.

“I wouldn’t say so.”

Garnet is the pillar of strength and virtue, and she just seems so much better, so much more able to cope.

(Pearl doesn’t get it.)

 _Tell me I’m wrong_ , she pleads, but no one says anything.

Instead, Pearl says, “I’m sorry,” just to break the silence.

“For what?”

Three eyes meet two.

( _ ~~Nothing/My whole existence/everything I’ve ever done~~_ )

Pearl laughs, the noises coming from her mouth sounding like marbles scattering across the floor.

She just smiles.

After all, talking would be worse.

 


End file.
